Artist Statement

I’m interested in folds and how folds represent a container for an object that can contain memories of places. The fold becomes the container that holds something special. I think of edges and how edges look when we fold a sheet of paper. I think of travel and moving the container to other places and spaces. How does the fold relate to the body? What happens when we compress the fold so that it reads as a flat crushed piece of paper? What happens to the object inside the fold? How does the fold relate to the space around us?

Lately, I have been looking at folds in drapery as it relates to the body. I’ve been looking at the paintings of El Greco, the 15th Century Spanish Renaissance artist. El Greco’s jagged, angular lines and triangular forms have been an inspiration for the monotypes prints and collages. I am interested in how folds in drapery wrap around the body to create it’s own form and structure. In the monotype plates I create folds with various types of paper and layer them, tear them, and cover them with beeswax.

As I create the monotype collage I think about how it connects to the sensation of place. Place takes me to the Georgia Coast where the trees are covered with Spanish Moss. I spent time at St. Simon and Jekyll Island where the spirit of the past is still very strong. I remember walking along the Georgia Coast and feeling a spiritual connection to nature and the landscape. The drooping hanging tree branches with Spanish Moss carry a heavy spirit that I reflect on as I create the monotypes. The tree moss sometimes finds it’s way into the art works. The Spanish Moss becomes a part of the fold and becomes the object that connects to a sense of place.

My interest in Spanish Moss can also be seen in the pen & ink drawings. I made a drawing tool out of rolled paper to create the ink and graphite drawings in the studio. The drawing tool allowed me to put complete body movement and motion into the drawings. The two paintings carry the sketches of Spanish moss into them as well. The paintings feel like the body and folds that are layered with torn paper and transparent layers of paint. It also shows the connection between intimate spaces that I see sometimes when I look the monotypes.

It’s the in between space that I see between the intimate folds and the open space that I experience in life. It’s the place of mystery, tranquility, darkness, and beauty that can be contained in memories wrapped up in the fold.